


Dog With a Bone

by nyctanthes



Series: Prompt Ficlets [3]
Category: The Expanse (TV)
Genre: 3 Sentence Ficathon, 3 Sentence Fiction, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-18
Updated: 2019-01-18
Packaged: 2019-10-11 09:11:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17444045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nyctanthes/pseuds/nyctanthes
Summary: Amos has concerns.





	Dog With a Bone

**Author's Note:**

> Ficlet written for the 2018-19 Three Sentence Ficathon on DW hosted by rthstewart. 
> 
> In response to a prompt from Anoyo: _The Expanse. Amos Burton. Why you shouldn't get comfortable._

Naomi my friend, my only and dearest friend, you shouldn’t get comfortable; he tells her over and over, through the dragging and clanking of his chain against the fence - the frothing, howling attacks on whoever pisses him off (and ninety-nine out of a hundred people piss him off); she looks at him (beseechingly, trustingly) and replies in her lopsided, lilting Belter patois: “Amos, my Amos, you’d never hurt  _me_ , you’d never hurt anyone who who didn’t deserve it (who I didn’t tell you to hurt), confident that her hold on the leash is firm and true. 

Prax my love, you shouldn’t get comfortable, he says with actions not words: by not letting down his guard, remaining ever wary and watchful, by leaving for days (for weeks, for months) - because he’s nobody’s house pet; and the muscles under Prax’s jaw tense and release, he nods in understanding, though only because he’s thinking:  _You don’t really mean it, you won’t be gone forever, you need someone to scratch your back and no one does it better than I do._  

Holden my captain, he explains, you think of me as part of your crew, your chosen family, your defense against what lurks in the dark (political short-sightedness, zero sum thinking, fanaticism, greed and stupidity), but you shouldn’t get comfortable; he starts to explain why - I’m callous and dangerous and broken; a killer, a no good dirty rotten untrustworthy son of bitch whose done (so many) things and it would make your hair fall out to hear just one of them - when Holden cuts him off: “Don’t worry, Amos,” he growls matter of factly, standing tall: “I wouldn't dream of it." 

 


End file.
